Bruin girls second in Division 4 race at Nike meet

Columbia was led by sophomore Lilah Zimmerman, who finished third overall in 20 minutes, 9 seconds for 5,000 meters. Teammate Helen Hoskins, a senior in her first season of high school cross country, was sixth in 20:49 for Coach Michael Hannigan’s team.

Also scoring team points (top five) for the Bruins were Kathryn O’Connor (15th, 21:52), Heidi Hoppus (25th, 22:38), and Eda O’Connor (40th, 23:23). Maya Tama and Maisy Kollman were 49th (23:46) and 52nd (23:58) for the CHS varsity.

Columbia’s boys team finished third in the Division 4 varsity race with 90 points behind Spanaway Lake (57) and Stayton (66). Noah Slayton was fourth overall in 17:29 for 5,000 meters. Cole Wooding (11th, 18:19), Luther Thomas (20th, 18:59), Colby Clark (22nd, 19:03), Milo Hoppus (42nd, 19:54), and Everett Coyner (43rd, 19:57) also competed in the race for the Bruins. All six of the CHS boys varsity runners registered lifetime bests for 5,000 meters.

There were 19 races at the meet and more than 3,000 runners from numerous states.

The Bruins raced in a less cluttered venue earlier last week, as CHS hosted six schools on Sept. 25 over its three-mile course at the high school. Columbia won both team races: the Bruin boys scored 18 points with a 1-2-4-5-6-7 finish of its top six runners to best two other scoring teams; the CHS girls countered with 20 points with seven of the top 12 finishers to top Stevenson, the only other scoring girls team.

Slayton won the boys race in 17:46, six seconds ahead of Wooding. Zimmerman won the girls race in 19:28, and Trout Lake’s Melody Stock was second in 20:11.